Our products

The BGS produces a wide range of data products. These have typically been developed on a national scale and are of use to a wide range of end users including academics, industry, homebuyers and policy makers.

Data are typically available under licence, however an increasing number are available for view or download in OpenGeoscience.

The following pages describe the data available, outline the basic cost of a licence (where appropriate) or provide links to download/view the data. In many cases there are also links to downloadable samples of the data and user guides.

Energy

Coal resources for new technologies
Data from series of maps, first published in 2003, showing the potential of the UK onshore coal resources for both exploitation by conventional (mining) and new technologies.

BGS total organic carbon
Total organic carbon data derived from borehole analysis. Total organic carbon is a measure of the weight per cent of organic carbon within hydrocarbon source rocks.

Ground conditions

BGS Civils: bundle
The complete set of BGS Civils data: national maps of engineering properties based on geological data, bundled together at a reduced cost.

BGS Civils: bulking volume
Bulking is defined as the increase in volume of material when it is excavated from its in situ location. This dataset provides information on the bulking factor of bedrock and superficial deposits, which may be useful if material is being removed or re-used on construction sites.

BGS Civils: corrosivity (ferrous)
Corrosion is the slow degradation of a material by means of a chemical reaction. The corrosivity dataset indicates the potential corrosiveness of the ground to infrastructure at shallow depth.

BGS Civils: discontinuities
Discontinuities are defined as any break or change in the continuity of a rock mass that has the potential to have a reduced strength. This dataset provides information on the discontinuities in bedrock and superficial deposits and can be used to help predict how rocks may break up during excavation or how stable they will be on slopes or under foundations.

BGS Civils: engineered fill
Engineered fill is material that is used to fill in a depression or hole in the ground or artificially change the elevation of the ground level (e.g. embankments). This dataset provides information on the suitability of excavated geological material to be used as engineering fill or other possible uses.

BGS Civils: excavatability
Excavatability is a measure of how easy it is to dig up and remove geological materials and is used to determine appropriate excavation methods. This dataset provides information on zones of excavatability and the local factors controlling it for a range of excavating equipment.

BGS Civils: foundation conditions
The 'foundation conditions' of rocks and soils are an important consideration for determining how surface construction loads are transmitted into the ground. There are many factors that need to be considered, including strength, possibility of settlement, weathering and aggressive soil characteristics. This dataset provides an overview of factors that should be considered when designing foundations for buildings.

BGS Civils: strength
The strength of geological materials is related to their composition, density, and how their mineral components are bound together, i.e. interlocking grains or cementation. This dataset provides information on zones of rock strength (based on field description of materials).

BGS Civils: sulfate/sulfide potential
Sulfates and sulfides in rocks and soils are, when in certain forms and in certain conditions, of importance to the engineered environment as they can give rise to aggressive ground conditions. This dataset provides a guide to the stratigraphic units and lithologies throughout Great Britain and their potential to form a sulfate/sulfide geohazard.

BGS resistivity
Resistivity is a geophysical property of rocks, deposits and soils. It is an important factor in how electrical currents move through the ground, affecting earthing of infrastructure and electrochemical corrosion. This dataset provides information on modelled ranges of resistivity of bedrock and superficial deposits.